“It was his last wish that my family and I continue to walk in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in support of Gilda’s Club – a charity he cherished and where he had many wonderful experiences”
Project Canoe plans to portage the entire 42.2K of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this October
More than 6,700 people took part in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon and 5k, raising an estimated $970,000 for 70 local charities through the Scotiabank Charity Challenge. This brings the grand total since 2007 to over $8 million.
For many who have grown up in Ontario, the camp experience is one of the highlights of childhood. It’s an opportunity for personal growth, building confidence and learning life skills, and experiencing the wonderful activities offered in Ontario’s rural landscape during summer.
Two Toronto runners offer a Save Our Scruff alumni the chance to live his best life thanks in part to their active lifestyles
For the seventh year, Jason Cole and Rand Surbey will be racing in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half marathon as part of a wheelchair team. Their goal? To raise money to support the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC. Oh, and a world record.
Their Story:
After damaging his knee during last year’s run and working hard to come back from injury, Jason will run again in 2018, pushing Rand again in an attempt to capture the elusive and challenging bid to capture to Guiness Record and support the Cerebral Palsy Association’s team. After seven years of breaking the world record but not having their time recognized due to an equipment technicality, Jason and Rand are coming back stronger than ever to prove their speed and determination.
“Thanks to Wheelin’ Mobility and the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC, who outfitted us with a racing wheelchair that matches the requirements of Guinness, Rand and I are back in training and preparing to take on the Scotiabank Half Marathon again this year on June 24th” said Jason. “Our goal since beginning our racing careers has always been to advance the inclusivity of fun athletic events, like running races and the Tough Mudder, regardless of people’s financial or physical status.”
Jason and Rand will be racing in costume and this year’s theme will super heroes, with Rand as the Hulk and Jason as Captain Canuck. As an additional incentive for fundraising, they have acquired a limited edition, minted $20 silver coin that was released from the Canadian Mint commemorating Captain Canuck, and are offering it as a prize draw, with entries available for anyone donating in excess of $50 to our fundraising efforts. The draw will take place at the finish line of the race.
CLICK HERE to support Jason and Rand, and the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC.
Make this year’s Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k count with the Scotiabank Charity Challenge.
By Diana Hart
Time for Vancouverites to lace up their sneakers; runners of all ages are taking part in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k on June 24.
At Scotiabank-supported marathons across Canada, people can make their runs count by taking the Scotiabank Charity Challenge and raising money for charities helping strengthen their communities. This year, we are highlighting Scotiabank Charity Challenge participants running for charities that help build a better future for young people in their communities.
Meet Jaylene
Jaylene Prime, 11, is taking the Scotiabank Charity Challenge alongside her sisters. They are raising money for Cassie and Friends Society, a not-for-profit, which supports children with juvenile arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, and their families.
Jaylene has a rare form of juvenile arthritis called systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA). With the support of Cassie and Friends Society, Jaylene and her family were successful in their battle to gain accessto an expensive medication to treat her life-threatening illness. She was the first child in B.C. to be granted public coverage to the medication canakinumab.
Jaylene explains why she’s excited to run the Scotiabank Charity Challenge this year.
Link to original story HERE
Jaylene’s story is just one of many. Support Cassie and Friends or another Charity through the Scotiabank Charity Challenge and run for a cause on June 24th.
Already registered to race? You can still fundraise, click HERE to log into your race account.
The Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon is proud to support local charities as part of the Scotiabank Charity Challenge, with the goal of raising over $1,000,000 annually for local charities. Each year, charities such as the Alzheimer Society of BC build fundraising teams to support their causes, with runners participating in both the half-marathon and the 5k races.
Here’s a look at some team members raising money for the Alzheimer Society of BC:
Participant Name: Bark Kong
Goal Time: Under two hours for the half-marathon
Running wisdom: “Take the first step and be patient with yourself… it’s more about the process than the finish. Don’t go out too hard. It’s not a sprint; it’s like running a marathon, well…except it’s half. There is a lot of training information available on the internet, so find a program that works for you and decide to do it!”
Why he runs: “It’s both the challenge of doing something hard and the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve done it.”
What’s special about the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k: “Not only is this event a way for me to use my love for running to raise funds, it lets me get to know my friends and colleagues in a new and fun way. For example, I learned that Emily (Pridham, Manager, Regional Services for Vancouver Island) is really competitive – almost as much as I am.”
Bark is the veteran runner on the team. With six full marathons and eight half-marathons under his hydration belt, he’s more than ready to take on the mental challenge of 21.1 kilometres alone with his thoughts – with the help of a healthy cheering section on race day. This is the third consecutive Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k that he’ll tackle with the help of high-altitude, trail and road training and some intense metal in his headphones. Still smarting from a devastating loss last year to his worthy competitor, Emily Pridham, he has a new training program that is driven by the raw desire to come out ahead of his much younger colleagues. To show Bark your support, visit his fundraising page.
Participant Name: Emily Pridham
Goal Time: Under two hours for the half-marathon… and to beat Bark!
Message to other new runners: “Don’t be scared to try something uncomfortable. Ease in gently and set goals.”
What she learned about herself at her first Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k in 2017: “I was surprised by how into the fundraising I got. I got competitive because I saw [my teammates’] totals going up and I didn’t want to be left in the dust!” (Emily started her fundraising with tentative social media posts and ended up enthusiastically knocking on her neighbours’ doors.)
Emily is an avid cyclist, but until last year, she had never run more than 10k. A month before the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k, she was inspired by Bark and Theresa Frazao – who was also planning to run her first half-marathon for the Society – and she joined the team. The combination of her love for physical and leadership challenges, the healthy competition with her colleagues and the opportunity to embody the philanthropic spirit of the Society was enough to drive Emily to the finish line with little preparation. At the end of her dramatic debut, Emily beat Bark to the finish line by a minute. Complicating her win, however, shortly after the race, Bark learned he had been running with appendicitis. Now he’s back to full strength and ready for his re-match. Emily, with a year of running behind her, isn’t about to hand the top spot over to Bark – or the latest contender to join the office road race. To show your support for Emily, visit her fundraising page.
Participant Name: Allison Baker (aka, The Mystery Runner)
Goal Time: 1:45 for the half-marathon
Where she runs: Along the beach in Tsawwassen.
Why join the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k? “To be a part of a team. Running can be a very lonely sport. I’m excited to do it with a team because I’m extra competitive and I’m usually just competing with myself.”
Message to her teammates: “Bring it on!”
Earlier this year, when the Society team began to take shape at the provincial office, Allison threw her hat in the ring for the half-marathon – without revealing her identity to her teammates. At first, The Mystery Runner in the office sparked intrigue. Now that the secret’s out, so is the truth about Allison’s running resume. She has completed two full marathons and is now training for her third. Allison initially took up running at the age of 14 to impress her hockey coach and later fell in love with the endorphins she found pounding the pavement to her pop favourites. Will the ‘90s nostalgia of the Spice Girls and ‘N Sync propel her to the finish line before her colleagues? That part’s still a mystery. To show your support for Allison, visit her fundraising page.
Participant Name: Theresa Frazao
Goal: “To run a strong 5k in June and use these beautiful spring months to get outside and run again.”
Why she runs: “I love the endorphins and doing what I can to be fit and strong. I also love how meditative it is. It’s really hard to think about your problems when you are running.”
Run tunes: Fast, energetic pop songs to keep up her pace.
Last year Theresa completed her first half-marathon on the Society team. This year, she’ll be returning to the 5k distance and joining thousands of other runners and walkers on the shorter course. To all the less-competitive runners out there, Theresa has this to say: “5k is the perfect distance to participate in an event like this because you can run, you can walk or you can do a combination of the two. And you can recruit some friends to come out for the morning and walk or run with you! The crowds, the entertainment, the cheerleaders and the charity village all add to a great festival environment and you’ll have a blast while doing some good for the Alzheimer Society of B.C.” To show Theresa your support, visit her fundraising page.
In a world where everything is available right at your fingertips, it seems normal to consult the internet for a training plan to prepare for an upcoming race. However, these programs are cookie cutter methods based on norms that don’t take into consideration the uniqueness of the individuals that use them. So what does proper coaching offer that a run-of-the-mill program doesn’t?
“With proper coaching, an athlete just might discover the best version of themselves, or they might start to let go of all those heavy expectations that they carry around. And through this process they will learn more about themselves. Proper coaching allows an athlete to make clear choices and carve out a path to where they want to go. Proper coaching builds the bridge between who the athlete is today, and who they will be. Proper coaching filters and flows into every area of an athlete’s life so that all of the practicing, resting, recovering, training, racing, and dreaming is purposeful. With proper coaching, we grow and get better.” – Kate Gustafson, Mile2Marathon Coaching.
Not only do coaches provide one-on-one coaching, they usually form a group of athletes that can train together. This not only ensures that the athletes are provided guidance, but they’re also supplied with a team that gives a team-like dynamic in a very solo sport. This community supports, pushes, and enhances those who are involved.
The words of Coach Kate from Mile2Marathon in Vancouver eloquently explains the benefit of having a coach that can guide an athlete on their running journey. Having someone understand the ebbs and flows of the athlete’s life, commitments, vices, and dreams is crucial. Accountability to a coach, to one’s own goals, and to the betterment of one’s skills, is something that a generalized program from the internet won’t offer. A coach can help make the solitude of training become a camaraderie, through the rapport a coach-athlete relationship cultivates.
By: Amy Friel
When Giant Steps Toronto took to the streets more than ten years ago as part of the Scotiabank Charity Challenge at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the prospect of raising more than a million dollars towards their cause was little more than a pipe dream.
Founded in 1995, the York Region-based school and therapy centre offers an integrated program of academics along with speech, behavioural, and occupational therapies for elementary school students with autism. Amidst the hundreds of official charities who participate in the Charity Challenge each year, they’re a comparatively modest operation – but their more than ten years of participation in the event has had a decidedly significant impact.
“In the beginning, it was just kind of a group of parents of kids with autism,” recalls Joanne Scott-Jackson, the Director of Development for Giant Steps Toronto. “But we got really enthusiastic, and we raised $20,000 that first year.”
Since their Charity Challenge debut in 2004, Giant Steps Toronto has raised more than $1.1 million in funding for their programs. They’re the smallest charity by far to make it into the Charity Challenge’s “Million Dollar Fundraising Club”. For a local organization with limited resources, it’s a fundraising opportunity that could never have been possible without the marathon’s help.
“Events are kind of risky prospects for many charities, particularly small ones who have limited resources,” Scott-Jackson explains. “You have to have a lot of skill to pull these events together; they’re risky, they’re time-consuming, and they can be costly as well. So for a small charity like us to be able to piggyback onto such an established, world-renowned fundraising and athletic event, the opportunity is very unique.”
For more than 550 official charities who participate annually in six community road races across Canada, the Scotiabank Charity Challenge offers the opportunity for a large-scale fundraising event that’s both low-cost and low-risk, allowing organizations to invest their resources into fundraising rather than logistics. For Giant Steps Toronto, the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has become their largest annual fundraising event, accounting for about 20% of their yearly fundraising dollars.
And while impressive, their success story is far from unique.
“Since we launched the Scotiabank Charity Challenge in 2003, runners in six community races across the country have collectively raised more than $50 million for community charities,” says Kyle McNamara, Scotiabank’s Executive Vice-President, Global Retail Banking Technology.
To help charities maximize their dollars raised, Scotiabank covers the cost of transaction fees, and offers additional team awards and incentives, complete with cash prizes, to those participating in the Charity Challenge.
“Scotiabank believes in giving back to the communities where we live and work,” says McNamara, an avid runner himself. “The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon is more than a great running event – through the Scotiabank Charity Challenge, the race raises money for local charities that help to create a stronger future for young people and build vibrant communities.”
For Joanne Scott-Jackson, the event has become a true community celebration, drawing together a diverse collection of individuals who have a deep personal connection to her organization and its work.
“A lot of people who run or walk with us are parents of kids with autism, or family members, or friends, or staff,” she says. “A lot of them have very intimate connections with our charity, and very direct connections with the kids who are benefiting from our program.”
Ever the enthusiastic bunch, Giant Steps Toronto fielded a team of 139 participants in last year’s race – the charity with the largest amount of fundraising participants in the 2016 Charity Challenge, for which they were awarded an additional $6,000 towards their fundraising campaign. The award was the latest in what has become a strong tradition of excellence for the Giant Steps Toronto team, which has now taken home fundraising prizes nine times over their twelve years participating.
For Race Director Alan Brookes, the Scotiabank Charity Challenge is a particular point of pride, one that embodies the spirit of Toronto’s marquee marathon weekend. At once a celebration of individual endeavour and community engagement, it allows athletes of all abilities to unite in support of the causes closest to their hearts.
“This is always an exciting time – the beginning of training and fundraising for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and the Charity Challenge,” says Brookes. “We all share so many hopes and dreams. Very best wishes to everyone on our road to October 22nd. There, we will come together, with one goal: to make our community a better place, and celebrate your achievements. Let’s do this together!”
Runners interested in making their steps (both giant and otherwise) count this fall are invited to register for the race and sign up for the Scotiabank Charity Challenge: http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/community-and-charity/scotiabank-charity-challenge/
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